"The government is allowing Alcoa to do whatever they friggin want," according to a long-term campaigner for better regulation of WA's alumina refineries.
The Perth-based LNG specialist operates the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG projects and is developing the Scarborough and Browse fields. It also has a 50 per cent stake in ExxonMobil's Bass Strait operation and substantial interests in the US and Mexico.
In the race to decarbonise iron ore shipping Rio and BHP are chasing incremental improvements with LNG while Andrew Forrest's Fortescue wants zero-emission green ammonia ASAP.
WA will be home to two of the largest green hydrogen electrolysers in the world to feed an ammonia plant and inject the clean fuel into the South West gas grid.
Regulator NOPSEMA has wrested control of the schedule for cleaning up Australia's offshore oil and gas fields from tight-fisted operators in a move that may result in an offshore jobs boom later this decade.
For Woodside, it is Scarborough or bust. Incredibly the LNG specialist has no plan B ready if its last chance to develop an LNG project evaporates. And Scarborough is no sure thing.
WA's industrial greenhouse gas emissions are dominated by four products and a handful of companies, including a few that have managed to keep a low profile in the climate wars.
Most big WA carbon polluters including Chevron, Adbri, South32 and Woodside are wanting on emissions reduction targets, strategy and cash, according to benchmarking for the world's biggest investors.
The next Woodside chief executive will be the first to decide what to do apart from gas. Low-profile BHP Petroleum head Geraldine Slattery is a lead contender to take charge of this pivotal WA company.
Much of the $52 billion cost to decommission Australia's offshore oil and gas infrastructure will fall on the Federal Government via the tax system and work has started to boost industry collaboration and find cost savings.
Woodside boss Peter Coleman said the military of Myanmar where Woodside operates "weren't being heard" and staging a coup was a "difficult decision" for the generals.
Woodside wants to sanction its $US11.4 billion Scarborough LNG project in 2021, but a legal challenge to regulatory approval for years of carbon emissions could put it in a two-year legal limbo.
